Word: progressive
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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When Nicholas Daniloff was ensnared four weeks ago in a KGB trap, it was thought the tense game of pawns that ensued would prevent any progress on arms control or toward a Soviet-American summit. Instead, something quite different occurred. Movement on arms control increased, and so did hopes for a year-end meeting between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev. As a result, the dog seemed to wag the tail for a change: the desire to reach an accord on the major issues dividing the superpowers created an eagerness to resolve, as quickly as face-saving maneuvers would allow...
From the beginning, the Daniloff affair (which now encompasses not only the arrest of Zakharov but also Washington's order to expel 25 Soviet employees from the U.N.) has been seen as a ready gauge of the desire in Moscow and Washington for progress on larger issues. If both sides wanted a summit, it was thought, a way would be found to untangle the affair. That forced both leaders, after months of dithering, to face squarely the question of how badly they really desired to meet again. The answer: badly enough to give their diplomats a go-ahead to negotiate...
...raised grave doubts about how much it wanted either a summit or an agreement of any kind. The tone of the superpower exchanges began to change over the summer, as a variety of exchanges between the President and the Soviet leader encouraged arms experts in Geneva to make solid progress. But then the Zakharov-Daniloff matter exploded at the end of August, giving each side a perfect excuse to call off a summit if it wanted...
...became obvious on Sept. 19, after Shevardnadze arrived in Washington for his long-delayed talks with Shultz and an unscheduled call on Reagan in the Oval Office. Though much of the discussion was taken up by stern American lectures about Daniloff, neither Reagan nor Shultz let the dispute prevent progress on arms control. Shevardnadze handed Reagan a personal letter from Gorbachev replying to arms- control proposals the President had made in July. The Soviet Foreign Minister also hinted at further concessions toward an INF agreement. He and Shultz wound up their meetings expressing unexpected optimism about prospects for a summit...
...said he should not.) Reagan badly wants to wind up his presidency in a blaze of glory as the leader who restored U.S. military and economic might to a point at which he could negotiate a favorable arms-control deal. But the clock is winding down: some solid progress must be registered in the next year or so, before the U.S. becomes preoccupied with the 1988 presidential campaign...